====== Animating Parameters ======
Catia/DP does not have any controls built in to let you animate a set of parameters in the same way you could do in Maya or XSI so we will have to do this in an alternative way; iterating through a design table that contains enough options to create a smooth animation and take a screen-shot for each option. To help you with this task we have put together a little automation script.

  - Download the {{:stanford:macros.zip|script file and folder}} and extract it to you root **c:/**. The newly extracted folder should contain one file, **DesignTableScreenCap.catvbs**, which is the macro script, and one folder **frames** where all the screen-caps will be placed.
  -Open your DP project with the design table loaded.
  -Rename the design table "**AnimationTable**"
  -Press **Alt + F8** to open the Macros window\\ {{:stanford:macro_dlg_1.jpg|}}
  -Click **Macro libraries...**, select **Directories** from the drop-down menu and then **Add existing library...** and select the **c:\macros** folder\\ {{:stanford:macro_dlg_2.jpg|}}
  -Once the directory is loaded the Macros window should look like this:\\ {{:stanford:macro_dlg_3.jpg|}}
  -**Running the script:** Provided the folder was uncompressed to the right place and the design table has been renamed you are now ready to run the script and generate the screen-shots. Select the **DesignTableScreenCap.catvbs** hit **Run**. DP will begin to iterate through all the 1200 "frames" in the design table and write these to **c:\macros\frames\**
  -**Compressing the video:** //(This step is optional -> we can do the compression of frames into video to help you save time)// There are a lot of tools to assemble the frames into a video clip and if you are familiar with working with video pick whichever tool is easiest. However, a good and free one is [[http://www.virtualdub.org/|VirtualDub]]. Additionally you will need a suitable video codec to to compress the video-stream.

<note important>
To make things easier I will take care of the conversion from image sequence to video for you. Please load all images in **C:\macros\frames** on a flash-drive and give them to me no later than lunchtime tomorrow.  I will either be in the lab or in my office: **275B**. --- //[[user:Thomas Wingate]] 2008/12/04 13:26//
</note>

==== Some tips ====
  *You can hide both the tree and the Compass in the **View** menu in DP
  *Setting the screen background to a single color in stead of a gradient makes the compression easier and the video file smaller
  *Turn on anti-aliasing of lines in **Tools -> Options**